http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/lazer_beams/2005/08/the_trail_of_te.html

This part is particularly interesting:

The Cherokees of Georgia: The Cherokees of Georgia, who in the 1830′s were forcefully exiled to Oklahoma, are basically the southern most subtribe of the Iriquois, the mother tribe of the Senecas in Maryland, the Algonquins in New York State, the Creek, the Yuchi, and others. As far as DNA goes, all the Iriquois who have been tested check out as of Middle east origin; some even carry the Y-chromosome of the Cohanim. A tribe of superb nautical prowess (like Zvulon and Dan, their probable ancestors), the Iriquois are believed to have sailed from Northern Israel, exiled by the Assyrians in 722 BCE, eastward along the Mediterranean, rounding Portugal then heading north to the British Isles, and subsequently crossing the Atlantic at the shortest point to Newfoundland – all some two thousand years before Columbus arrived in America. The Cherokees moved south, settling in the Carolinas and Georgia. Essentially, American Independance was a black day for them. The American Christian missionaries found the 18th Century Cherokees to be staunchly monotheistic, and vigorously opposed to the notions of Christianity. The missionaries, furious, began a smear campaign against the Cherokees, portraying them as lewd bloodthirsty savages (see James Adair’s “History of the North American Indians). Southern Christian fundamentalists later twisted Andrew Jackson’s ear to sign the ‘hate bill” of 1830 that lead to the expulsion of the Cherokees from Georgia and the subsequent death march of the tribe to the barren wilderness of Oklahoma. To this day, the nasty Southern Christian stereotypes of the Indians linger on in the media and in the cinema. Ultimately, those Cherokees who remained alive were christened by missionaries; today, there are few pure-blooded Cherokees. Assimilation and the missionaries have taken their toll, and few people of Cherokee descent know much about their own tradition.

American Indians Aren’t like Palestinians, from FrontPageMagazine.com

D.Yeagley